Jinkies! Where did Shaggy and Scooby go?!

We've all seen it. The bookcase that opens onto a secret room when you pull out a certain book out of the bookcase... Up till now to witness that kind of technology, you've had to sit through any number of Scooby-Doo and Batman episodes or (God help You) the 1999 Liam Neeson/Lili Taylor unintentional comedy "The Haunting". Thank goodness someone with a little know-how, stick-to-it-iveness, elbow-grease and maybe even some other hyphenated words I can't think of are out there bringing the secret rooms that reveal themselves when you move the candlestick on the fireplace mantle out of our dreams and into our houses.

Hiddenpassageway.com to the rescue!

Starting at ten grand, they can design and install revolving bookcases, chairs that open up to reveal a slide leading to your Batcave/secret lair/laundry room, etc. They have some really nifty (Flash) video at their site.

Finally, I can keep my dragon under those cool stairs that lift up just like The Munsters did.

(via Metafilter)

Technorati tags: architecture, design, secret passageway

You know what they say...

Wikipedia lists hundreds of signature phrases and catch phrases.

Technorati tags: language, catch phrases

What's my name again?

How some of the biggest companies in the world got their names. (via Digg)


Technorati tags: business, names

Obviously...

Scientists still can't answer the question, 'Why is ice slippery?'

What was King George VI's first name?

Compute: 3 + 4 times 5 + 2 and other trick questions


Technorati tags: quiz, the bleeding obvious, trick questions

See? It's good for something!

Someone made this (actually this is just the top portion of a much bigger image) using only the weakest of all graphics tools, MS Paint. Check it out. (via J-Walk)




Inspired, I fired up the old Paint program and gave it a try. I think you would be hard pressed to tell my effort from the original. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to write my next novel using only a label-maker.




Technorati tags: MS Paint, art

Psycho Crypto, Qu'est-ce que c'est?

I'm not sure what it is about disturbed minds and secret codes, but here are two instances of unsolved cryptograms created by some rather unhunged individuals.



First up is the infamous serial killer of the late 60s /early 70s, The Zodiac Killer. He terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area for five years, taunting police with bizarre letters and postcards, often in cryptograms, some of which are still unsolved. Zodiac claimed in his letters to have killed 37 people, though police could only connect him to seven deaths. He remains uncaught. Full details of the victims, suspects and the codes are at zodiackiller.com.




The other story starts out with an email that Bruce Schneier received. Bruce is an internationally renowned security technologist, author and an expert on cryptography. Because of the contents of the email, he is looking for a few good codebreakers who can decipher a message left behind at a murder scene. (via The Presurfer)


Technorati tags: codes, cryptograms, cryptography, zodiac killer

Shoot!

You don't mess with Dick Cheney. He's not only a terror with a rifle, but he also knows 9 other ways to take you out. (via Boing Boing)

Maybe our Veep visited here and took notes.

Technorati tags: cheney, stone cold killer

Needle and the damage done

Every time you play your vinyl records, you are wearing them out a little bit. The needle travels through the grooves and puts microscopic wear on the medium itself. This turntable, however, allows you to play your vinyl without putting wear on it, reading the grooves by using dual "lasers". Cool! (via Boing Boing)



The flipside, so to speak, is the virtual turntable, which makes CDs act like vinyl. This allows one to and use hip-hop techniques like scratching and playing stuff backwards and/or at different speeds without the expense and inconvenience of lugging around turntables and vinyl. Ots CD Scratch 1200 is a nice example of this. The basic version is free and easy to use. Aside from the obvious scratching feature, you can change pitch and tempo independently of each other (so for example you could make everyone sound like The Chipmunks without speeding up the song).



Q: How did Stella get her groove back?
A: By looking reeeeealllly carefully.

What record grooves look like way up close.


Arthur B. Lintgen, M.D.isn't psychic, but he can identify a record with no label. He does it by how the grooves look.

Technorati tags: vinyl, cd scratching, grooves, laser turntable

It's a little complicated...

Someone with too much time on their hands built this Rube Goldberg-esque contraption in Half Life 2. (via Digg)

This reminds me of The Incredible Machine game series from Sierra. You can even download the original The Incredible Machine game for free at DOS Games Online.


Technorati tags: rube goldberg, half life 2, games, incredible machine

You are standing inside a White House...

Defective Yeti has a spot-on sendup of those old text-based adventure games like Zork and Hunt the Wumpus. This one features the adventures of a certain Texan who finds himself in a large White House...

Bonus links! Get all old-skool. Download and play the Zork trilogy or Hunt the Wumpus for free.

Technorati tags: zork, hunt the wumpus, text games, politics, satire

Two turn signals and a microphone

From the When-You-Have-A-Hammer-Everything-Looks-Like-A-Nail Dep't.



If DJs ruled the world


Technorati tags: viral video, turntable